Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Coral reefs and islands; Geology -- South America; Islands; Volcanoes
_Cayman Island_: this island appears in the charts to be fringed; and
Captain B. Allen informs me that the reefs extend about a mile from the
shore, and have only from five to twelve feet water within them;
coloured red.—_Jamaica_: judging from the charts, about fifteen miles
of the S.E. extremity, and about twice that length on the S.W.
extremity, and some portions on the S. side near Kingston and Port
Royal, are regularly fringed, and therefore are coloured red. From the
plans of some harbours on the N. side of Jamaica, parts of the coast
appear to be fringed; but as these are not represented in the charts of
the whole island, I have not coloured them.—_St. Domingo_: I have not
been able to obtain sufficient information, either from plans of the
harbours, or from general charts, to enable me to colour any part of
the coast, except sixty miles from Port de Plata westward, which seems
very regularly fringed; many other parts, however, of the coast are
probably fringed, especially towards the eastern end of the
island.—_Puerto Rico_: considerable portions of the southern, western,
and eastern coasts, and some parts of the northern coast, appear in the
charts to be fringed; coloured red.—Some miles in length of the
southern side of the Island of _St, Thomas_ is fringed; most of the
_Virgin Gorda_ Islands, as I am informed by Mr. Schomburgk, are
fringed; the shores of _Anegada_, as well as the bank on which it
stands, are likewise fringed; these islands have been coloured red. The
greater part of the southern side of _Santa Cruz_ appears in the Danish
survey to be fringed (see also Prof. Hovey’s account of this island, in
“Silliman’s Journal,” volume xxxv., page 74); the reefs extend along
the shore for a considerable space, and project rather more than a
mile; the depth within the reef is three fathoms; coloured red.—The
_Antilles_, as remarked by Von Buch (“Descrip. Iles Canaries,” page
494), may be divided into two linear groups, the western row being
volcanic, and the eastern of modern calcareous origin; my information
is very defective on the whole group. Of the eastern islands, _Barbuda_
and the western coasts of _Antigua_ and _Mariagalante_ appear to be
fringed: this is also the case with _Barbadoes_, as I have been
informed by a resident; these islands are coloured red. On the shores
of the Western Antilles, of volcanic origin, very few coral-reefs
appear to exist. The island of _Martinique_, of which there are
beautifully executed French charts, on a very large scale, alone
presents any appearance worthy of special notice. The south-western,
southern, and eastern coasts, together forming about half the
circumference of the island, are skirted by very irregular banks,
projecting generally rather less than a mile from the shore, and lying
from two to five fathoms submerged. In front of almost every valley,
they are breached by narrow, crooked, steep-sided passages. The French
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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